November 18, 2015

Outlander Ensemble: Stomacher Embroidery Update

Trying to get good photos of anything in my sewing room always proves to be impossible... Anyways, here is my progress on my embroidered stomacher so far for my planned Outlander ensemble. I had forgotten how long embroidery takes, which has been trying my patience, but I really enjoy the actual process of embroidering so that makes up for the time suck of it all.

The first of the big leaves is finished. I used chain stitch for both the outline and to fill in the shape with gradated shades of green. The swirling stems of the leaves are all done in chain stitch too. The smaller leaves are outlined in split stitch (similar in look to chain stitch) and the filled in with long and short stitch to shade them. I'm not exactly sure how I want to fill in the thistles yet. I know I'll just use long stitches for the purple "fluff" part of the flowers, but I think I'll try some sort of padded laid work for the round bulb bit of each flower. I'd love to add a few spangles (aka sequins) somewhere too but we shall see.

Seeing as we are having a snowy week here in Colorado, cozying up with a mug of coffee, QI on the ol' laptop, and my embroidery sounds like just about the perfect way to spend an hour :)

I love these, they're just so autumnal! You've done an amazing job here and I'm sure it'll look fantastic once it's all done. I'd love to have a go at embroidery and have this dream of embroidering the collar and cuffs of a 1920s style coat in a Russian pattern but I'm just not sure I have the patience for it. x

Thank you! That would be quite the project indeed, but totally worth it to have such a glorious coat in the end. If I remember correctly I think Edith wore such a coat in season four of Downton Abbey that I totally swooned over.

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Hello there! I'm Bianca and here on The Closet Historian I study and recreate vintage fashions-- sketching, pattern drafting, and sewing my way to a vintage inspired wardrobe. I also occasionally attempt knitting, travel as far and wide as I can, and make videos over on YouTube, all while writing a novel on the side.